It’s December 1st and you are very bored. Outside it’s a wet, soggy day and the wind is whipping cold hard rain against the living room window. The last thing you want to do is go out in this weather so you are sitting at home and all that is on TV are re-runs. The morning dishes are still stacked in the sink but you can’t get up the motivation to wash them right now. So you randomly look for something do to. After picking up several books, you find that nothing seems to keep your attention until you spot an old shabby book in the back of the bookcase.
It’s very large, with a hard binding. But very, VERY, thin. The jacket cover is frayed around the edges and the picture on the front is so faded that you can barely make it out. This looks really old, you think. The only word that you can read say “Christmas” in big reddish letters. But all the rest of the words are blurred and unreadable. Intrigued, you take it down and head over to your easy chair to thumb through it until dinner time.
Flipping open to the first page you are immediately taken by the finely etched gold piping around the page border and the intricately delicate scripting of letters that spell out the words:
You have 24 days until Christmas
The subtitle says:
Giving a small gift each and every day
Spreads good cheer the Christmas way
What? I have 24 days left until Christmas? What is going on? A little dumbfounded you wonder at the coincidence that it just happens to be 24 days until Christmas day. The page itself gleams with a faint shimmer and although the outside of the book seems ancient, the inside is pristine. This is the strangest book that you have ever seen. And come to think of it, you realize that you have never seen this book before. So how in the world did it get in your bookshelf?
Chapter 1
Turning to the next page you find there is only one page left in the book. One page! On it says:
“Chapter 1”. Flipping the page over you look for where the rest of the pages must have been, maybe they had been torn out. But you find that the binding is stitched in a way that leaves no doubt there had never been more than just those few pages to begin with.
Turning back to Chapter 1 it begins:
Day 1
Underneath the title there is one sentence. The sentence reads “Call you Mother and tell her that you are thinking of her.” Really? Nothing else? No story, so character build up, just some random sentence? What kind of a book is this? You take another look at the page and read the sentence again.
Pausing to think, you reflect that it has been awhile since you’ve talked with your Mom. Actually, you don’t usually let this much time go by without talking to her. And just thinking of her makes you miss her so you pick up the phone and dial.
When she answers the call you can hear the pleasure in her voice that you took the time to telephone to see what’s going on with her. You talk for 20 minutes making plans for Christmas and after hanging up the phone the room seems a little brighter and the rain doesn’t seem to be falling as hard. On the other end of the line, your Mom smiles contently. Yes, this is a good day, you both think at the same time.
Well, it’s almost 5 pm now and time to start cooking dinner so you plop the book down on the foot stool and head to the kitchen without giving it much thought. A Christmas carol springs to mind and before you know it your tidying up the breakfast dishes before delving into making tonight’s meal. Finally, sated, you wander to bed and fall asleep with dreams of snowflakes falling on a wooden glen and a big white snowman bundled in a woolly scarf.
Chapter 2
The next day you wake well rested and find that you have never felt so good. It’s Monday and you have to get ready for work. So you hop in the shower and in 30 minutes are ready to head out the door. Walking through the living room, a subtle flash of light catches your attention as you glance over and see the book on the foot stool.
Hmm…where did that light come from? It must have been a trick of your eyes, but you wander over and pick up the book ready to put it away before heading out. With a quick chuckle you open it and are stopped in your tracks. There are still just 2 pages in the book. The cover page and the chapter page. But the cover page now says “You have 23 days until Christmas.”
Not believing your eyes, you hastily turn the page. And to your amazement the chapter page no longer says Chapter 1. Instead it now reads Chapter 2. The heading reads:
Day 2
A few inches down there is one sentence. The sentence reads “Do something nice for your co-worker today.
Shaken you sink down in the chair and turn the book from back to front and then to the back again. This can’t be! Can you trust your own eyes? You know what you read last night! But yes, it’s there in black and white. Chapter 2 and the one sentence. The different sentence. The NEW sentence! Just then your doorbell rings and you hear the voice of Frank, the guy you carpool with, and him calling you to hurry up so he won’t be late to work. Dashing from your apartment, you almost run into Frank in your haste and he gives you a strange look. “What’s up with you today” he asks?
“Nothing, nothing! Let’s get going!” you say as your dart for the car. Just as he pulls the car into the street you can hear a faint sound of “Ho! Ho! Ho!” coming from the direction of your house and you pinch yourself to make sure that you are not dreaming.
A Helping Hand
Once at work and your busy day begins the memory of the morning starts to fade as you work to achieve this month’s deadline. It’s almost completely pushed from your mind until, by chance, you glance up and see Amy, your coworker struggling to lift several heavy boxes onto a cart. You realize they are preciously lurching to one side and in a split second they could easily topple hurting her in the process.
You race to her side and at the last moment grab the box that is ready to crash down on her foot. Feeling the weight in your hands you know that would have been disastrous and she could have seriously been injured. But the accident had been avoided and she gave you a heartfelt thanks for your coming to the rescue just in the nick of time. You turn back to your office and catch a whiff of gingerbread. You think how good it smells and how appropriate it is for this time of the year. It never once enters your mind that the cafeteria is down one floor and not on your level.
Finally, the days over. You and Frank go out to eat and eventually he drops you back at your door. It’s late and your tired. Walking in you sneakily peak to your left and see the book is still on the foot stool. “And that is just where it will stay!” you think. You’re going to bed. Tomorrow everything will seem clearer and you quickly scurry down the hall to your bedroom.
Chapter 3
The screeching sound of your alarm clock wakes you and you bolt out of bed. Is it only Tuesday? Wow, what a wild crazy last couple of days it’s been. You head to the kitchen to make coffee and can’t help but glace over your shoulder. Yes, the book is still there. Okay. It’s just a book. There is a perfectly good explanation for yesterday. You’ll put this right. Just one more peek and you will see that the page hadn’t really changed. You must have just had an off day or something. Grabbing it quickly, you see the cover page now says “You have 22 days until Christmas.”
With your head spinning your turn to the chapter page. It says in neat scrolled letters “Chapter 3”. And underneath it says:
Day 3
A few inches down, there is one sentence. The sentence reads…
Well, this is where my version of the story ends and yours is just beginning. The remaining 22 days are yours to make, yours to dream and yours to fulfill. Twenty-two more Christmas gifts to give. They are as limitless as your imagination. To truly experience the spirit of this holiday means giving from the heart. Selflessly and without a thought of reciprocation. If you had the enchanted Christmas book, what would be written for your 24 days? There is still a while before the holiday season, and it’s a perfect time to start planning your sentence a day for the goal of giving from the heart. Big or little, it makes no difference. What matters is the act itself. One simple act of kindness a day makes Christmas the most enchanting season of the year.
Wait! Did you hear that? I could have sworn I heard jingle bells tinkling! How odd!
